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The style of programming usually associated with languages such as C, Fortran, Pascal and so on. Imperative programming is distinguished from functional programming in that the former is strongly tied to the concept of variables and memory locations. A variable is associated with a memory location and the contents of that memory location may be changed, via the variable, over the course of time. The meaning or effect of a program fragment at a particular point can only be understood by reference to the current contents of the set of relevant variables, therefore. In contrast, functional programs do not allow the contents of a variable to be changed once set (in simplified terms), hence making them easier to reason about. While languages such as C++ and Java are also imperative programming languages, strictly speaking, they are more commonly referred to as object-oriented programming languages.
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